Rohan
The countryside of Rohan is described as a land of pastures and lush tall grassland which is frequently windswept. It is similar to the Eurasian steppe, the North American Great Plains or the Norwegian Jaeren. The lands of Rohan are frequently described as appearing like "seas of grass", and are therefore perfect for horses (the word roch, in Sindarin, means horse). At the time of the War of the Ring, Rohan was roughly a third the size of Gondor, whose borders had slowly been shrinking for centuries. Its warm-continental climate generally brings hot summers and brisk but short winters, marking a midpoint between the harsh winters of Rhovanion and the long, subtropical summers of southern Gondor. Being near the centre of Middle-earth, the winds and air masses can come from almost any direction and the weather is highly variable in any season. Borders The borders of Rohan were (clockwise): * north: the eaves of Fangorn; the rivers Limlight and Anduin; and the walls of Emyn Muil, although this was later extended to the borders of Lórien * east: the mouths of Entwash; and the Mering Stream (which separated Rohan from the Gondorian province of Anórien, known to the Rohirrim as Sunlending) * south: the White Mountains * west: the rivers Adorn and Isen, where Rohan bordered Isengard and the land of the Dunlendings. The area of the western border was known as the Gap of Rohan; here theMisty Mountains and the White Mountains drew near to each other. However, following the conclusion of the Third Age, "..the realm was extended west beyond the Gap of Rohan as far as the Greyflood and the sea-shores between that river and the Isen.."3 Settlements The capital of Rohan is the hill fort of Edoras which is located on a hill in a valley of the White Mountains. Meduseld, the Golden Hall of the King of Rohan, is located there. "Edoras" is Old English for "enclosures",4 which Tolkien held to be a translation of an unknown Rohirric name of the same meaning. The city of Edoras was built by Rohan's second King, Brego son of Eorl the Young. Before Edoras was completed, Rohan's capital was at Aldburg in the Folde. Meduseld is described as having a golden thatch. Edoras is built at the end of the valley of Harrowdale, which lies under the great mountain Starkhorn. The river Snowbourn flows past the city on its way east towards the Entwash. The city is protected only by a high wall of timber, and a one-way road allows access to the city. Just before the gates, two rows of mounds line the road, which are the graves of the former Kings of Rohan. "Meduseld", a modernised form of the Old English Maeduselde,5 is similarly meant to be a translation of an unknown Rohirric name meaning "mead hall". Meduseld is a large hall with roof that appears golden from far off. The walls are richly decorated with tapestries depicting the history and legends of the Rohirrim, and it serves as a house for the King and his kin, a meeting hall for the King and his advisors, and a gathering hall. Edoras is Rohan's only real city. It is at Meduseld that Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and Gandalf meet with King Théoden in the account of the early stages of the War of the Ring. Another important settlement is Aldburg, capital of the Eastfold and original settlement of Eorl the Young. A third settlement is Snowbourne, named after the river of the same name which runs nearby. It is similar in appearance to the hill-fort of Edoras. Dunharrow is a refuge in the White Mountains. Helm's Deep is a valley in the White Mountains in which the Hornburg, a major fortress of Rohan, is located. People The Uffington White Horse, whence the banner and shield of the House of Eorl – a "white horse upon green" – is derived. The Dúnedain of Gondor and the Rohirrim were distantly related (having descended from the same northern stock), and the people of Gondor describe the Rohirrim as Middle Men, inferior to the Númenóreans in both culture and descent, but superior to the Men of Darkness who had worshipped and served Sauron — and this is stated as fact in The Lord of the Rings, but contradicted in later writings.The name Rohirrim is Sindarin for People of the Horse-lords (sometimes translated simply as Horse-lords) and was mostly used by outsiders: the name they had for themselves was Eorlingas, after their king Eorl the Young who had first brought them to Rohan. Rohirrim is a collective noun and should be used with the definite article (i.e. the Rohirrim). It should not be used as an adjective. (The adjective is Rohirric, which also refers to their language. Tolkien also used Rohanese occasionally in his letters.) The names and many details of their culture are in fact based on Germanic-derived cultures, particularly that of the Anglo-Saxonsand their Old English language, towards which Tolkien felt a strong affinity. Ultimately Anglo-Saxon England was defeated by the cavalry of the Normans at the Battle of Hastings, and some Tolkien scholars have speculated that the Rohirrim are Tolkien's wishful version of an Anglo-Saxon society that retained a "rider culture", and would have been able to resist such an invasion. In any case, they did not go to Beleriand like the Edain who were later rewarded with the island of Númenor by the Valar. The ancestors of the Rohirrim were known as theÉothéod and were given the province of Calenardhon by Gondor after the Battle of the Field of Celebrant. The people of Rohan were for the most part tall, fair and pale, with blue eyes and blond hair which they wore long and braided. In the far west however, particularly in the land between the Isen and the Adorn west of the Gap of Rohan, many Rohirrim were of mixed Rohirrim and indigenous (ie Dunlending) ethnicity, and were thereby shorter, with darker eyes and hair much more in evidence. The Rohirrim were described by the Dúnedain as by nature stern, fierce and grave, yet generous. They were ruled by a line of kings descended from Eorl the Young. : They are proud and wilful, but they are true-hearted, generous in thought and deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing many songs, after the manner of the children of Men before the Dark Years. — The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers The Rohirrim had had contacts with Elves in their ancient history, and knew of Eru (God), but like the Dúnedain they did not worship him in any temples. They seem to have venerated the Vala Oromë the Hunter, whom they called Béma. In response to a query about clothing styles in Middle-earth, Tolkien wrote: The Rohirrim were not "medieval", in our sense. The styles of the Bayeux Tapestry (made in England) fit them well enough, if one remembers that the kind of tennis-nets the soldiers seem to have on are only a clumsy conventional sign for chainmail of small rings.